Zoo Animals Entertained by Duluth Fire Hoses

Firefighters reuse old hoses to create fun and challenge for the critters.

Many of us have kicked around in the garage and found that old garden hose that isn’t any good anymore.

But what if you’re in the local fire station and it’s fire hose you’re talking about?

Well, you take it to the zoo–of course! At least that’s what Duluth firefighters were doing Wednesday.

Unique items and play toys–often known in the zoo world as “enrichments”–are an important part of keeping the animals engaged and challenged.

Fire hoses are about as tough as you can get. So, everything from beds, to dangling toys, to treat dispensers often hold up much better against long claws, sharp teeth and overall rough housing.

“The bears normally in the wild use their noses a lot to find their food. They have an incredible sense of smell, about seven times stronger than a dog. Dogs have incredible noses, so you can kind of figure out good these guys can investigate objects,” said Lead Zookeeper, Emily Perala.

“And so, giving them toys that we can hide scents in, like bedding from other animals, or that we can hide treats in that they have to dig and manipulate and use those natural adaptations to find their food. It stimulates them mentally; it stimulates them physically. It gets them up and moving, which is fun for the guests to see and kind of connect with them, and it’s all-around good for everyone here at the zoo,” said Perala.

It turns out it was also an enriching opportunity for firefighters, and even family members who helped out. There are some ideas and designs online for the creations, depending on the type of animal and climate.

Fire equipment operator Heath Wiersma said they made some modifications and built their creations between emergency calls. He liked what they came up with, but just like fishing tackle– it doesn’t matter if the fisherman likes it.

“You know, to be honest with you I was really nervous coming into this, thinking that maybe, yeah…they’d just walk away,” said Wiersma.

“And to see them like devour what was in there was really cool. It just makes it that much better to, ‘I’ve built something, or we’ve built something, we’ve done something,’ and now they love playing with it,” said Wiersma.

Wiersma said it’s the first time in 23 years that he’s used fire hose for something other than water and fires. He said otherwise it ends up in a landfill.

The zoo says it’s also a win for them, because they like using recycled products as part of its sustainability mission.